The mystery of China's gold stash may soon be solved

Singapore

CHINA's push to challenge US dominance in global trade and finance may involve gold - a lot of gold.

While the metal is no longer used to back paper money, it remains a big chunk of central bank reserves in the US and Europe. China became the world's second-largest economy in 2010 and has stepped up efforts to make the yuan a viable competitor to the US dollar. That's led to speculation the government has stockpiled gold as part of a plan to diversify US$3.7 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves.